Owen de Forge twentysomething 

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Visit Owen's exhibition in our gallery space Monday to Friday 2:00 - 5:30pm (July- September)

Artist Bio:

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Owen de Forge is a figurative painter. Working primarily with oil paint on hand cut constructions, he combines observational studies and expressionistic mark making to show the effects of subjectivity and emotion on our perception. 

His work as been included in group shows throughout  the country; most notably at Artists Ignite (Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, 2020), the 139th Annual Exhibition at the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (Belfast, 2020), and the 188th RHA Annual Exhibition (Dublin, 2018). 

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‘Science is determining relationships between variables, interpreting data and looking for patterns. When we find the patterns, we will then create a movement.’ Dr. Niamh Shaw 

Inspired by the astronomical heritage and contemporary astrophysical research in Birr, science communicator and creative, Dr. Niamh Shaw will collaborate with Birr Theatre & Arts Centre & Birr Tidy Towns and local cross stitchers to map and observe Birr Skies with its celestial objects such as stars, planets, comets, meteors and other objects beyond our naked eye.  

This will be done through a programme of online workshops, night sky observations, with guest speakers incl. Dr Áine Flood, I-LOFAR, an initiative led by Trinity College Dublin, and site visits to Birr Castle Demesne over the coming months.

Working with the data of the past and present, of astrophysical objects discovered and observed through the Great Telescope, as well as data from I-LOFAR, Niamh and her collaborators will map out historical and contemporary astronomical features and their coordinates.

Using these coordinates, a suite of physical movements will be choreographed for an outdoor performance.  The performance will also be filmed and available as a stand-alone film work.

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This initiative is in collaboration with Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, Birr Tidy Towns, Birr Castle Demesne and  I-LOFAR, an initiative led by Trinity College Dublin, and supported by the Creative Ireland Programme (2017 -2022) in partnership with Offaly County Council.

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For more information and to get involved please email: info@birrtheatre.com